Police: Lakeland school bus driver fails to yield in crash, injuring one student and other driver

A school bus driver caused a crash that sent the driver of a car to the hospital and injured one of the 31 Athol Elementary School students on board the bus Friday near Athol, according to Idaho State Police.

A preliminary investigation suggested a 38-year-old Spirit Lake woman was driving a Lakeland Joint School District 272 bus south on Clagstone Road at about 3:40 p.m. when, from a stop sign, she failed to yield to traffic on State Highway 54 and collided with a 47-year-old Spirit Lake man driving a Honda Civic east on the highway, troopers said in a news release. The bus then hit a power pole.

The students were checked for injuries by an ambulance service, loaded onto another school bus and taken to Real Life Ministries to be released to parents, police said. One of the students had a cut lip, and no one else on the bus, including the driver, was injured.

The driver of the Honda was not wearing a seat belt and taken by ambulance to Kootenai Health for injuries, ISP said. Police did not release the names of either driver.

Traffic on Clagstone Road was blocked for about 2½ hours. Police are investigating.